LEADING CHANGELEO ACADIA/ THEISPOT.COMWhat Makes ChangeHarder — or EasierBefore you adopt any popular new management approach, it pays to analyze theimplicit values embedded in it. Then ask yourself: How well will those values fitour existing organizational culture?

BY MARKUS SPIEGEL, THERESA SCHMIEDEL, AND JAN VOM BROCKE
IN TODAY’S TURBULENT business environment,
many companies are undergoing major
innovation or change initiatives. These transformational efforts are often accompanied by
the introduction of new management practices and methods. The reasons for such
changes are many: The “old way” of doing
things no longer delivers desired results, a
new strategy needs to be implemented, new
technologies should be leveraged, or an entire
business model needs revamping. Unfortunately, transformational initiatives often fail
to live up to expectations or to deliver the intended results in a timely manner.

Our research and consulting experience suggest a key reason for this frequent
failure: Organizations often don’t consider
that the management practices and methods they are about to introduce come with
underlying values and assumptions about
how things should get done. We call this
the management methods’ embedded
culture. Failing to recognize that management
approaches build on a specific set of values
and were developed in the context of specific assumptions can lead to friction with
the culture of the organization into which
a new method is introduced.

But it does not have to be this way. Beingaware that management methods and prac-tices are not culturally neutral, but insteadcome with an embedded culture, can be apowerful lever to strengthen change effortsand increase the odds for success, so you canachieve your goals.Culture and methods need to fit togetherto function well and be effective. This canplay out in two different ways. If the valuesembedded in the new management methodyou are adopting fit your current organiza-tional culture, they can help you performquickly. If, however, the values embedded inthe method are not congruent with yourexisting organizational culture, you musttransform the culture by practicing andrewarding new behaviors. In the latter case,the management method becomes a vehiclefor cultural change, because it delivers expe-riences that require new behavior.

In either case, it’s worth analyzing both
the values of your organizational culture
and those of the new management approach
in order to identify areas with potential
conflicts and a need for adaptation. Such
conflicts can be addressed proactively when
they are not hidden below the surface, and
business leaders can then make better
choices about how to successfully implement the new management methods.

If the values embedded in a management approach that you want to adopt
conflict with your current organizational
culture, you need to foster behaviors that
help develop a culture supportive of the organization’s new objectives. This cannot be
done by printing shiny posters and flyers
that list “new values” that are introduced to
employees by managers reading from
scripts. To truly unlearn existing behavioral
patterns, there must be both a demand for
new behavior that builds on the desired
values and an opportunity to reward it.
Thinking through how managerial practices will fit with the extant organizational
culture is an important first step.

For example, some years ago, the financial services division of a well-known